


Affirmative

by ArtemisRayne



Category: Tron (1982)
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-04 07:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRayne/pseuds/ArtemisRayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of your cycles, ever since you were a basic program, you have believed in the Users. You did not know, but you believed. And now all of the cycles of faith and fighting are worth it, because the User is here. Your life's purpose is affirmative.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affirmative

You've always believed. Ever since you were a basic program, you knew that the Users were real. It was logic. You had to have come from somewhere. Existence didn't form from nothing. Somebody had to have created you, given you a purpose. The Users. You accepted the logic.

So you don't understand when the Master Control Program starts telling everyone that your logic is flawed. He says that the Users do not exist. Anyone who says otherwise is a heretic and will be taken into custody.

Some programs are outspoken. They renounce the Master Control Program in public domains. They light the boards with their support for the Users. It doesn't take long before they are taken away, sentenced to spend the rest of their cycles on the Game Grid.

You aren't one of these active conscripts. You are docile by nature and only choose action when necessary. It keeps you safe for a while, until they start questioning every conscript. Programs that you know start disappearing from the systems. When Commander Sark asks you, you tell him without shame that you believe. Your User created you and you feel you owe him your loyalty. If you are loyal then he will protect you.

And that's how you wind up on the Grid. You have a fast processor and it's the only thing that keeps you alive for so long. You see other conscripts come and go. It's inevitable that all will fail at some point. The only query is if they will fail with or without their belief. The mathematical logic is sound.

All except for Tron.

He fights for the Users. Bravely. Unwaveringly. Never once does he give up faith in the Users. There are times when you come close to losing your belief. He doesn't. He is not afraid to tell any conscripts who will listen about how he believes his User, which he calls Alan-1, will help him to defeat the MCP. He is unlike any program you have ever known. He becomes a symbol; an unchanging protocol in these dark systems.

You are drawn to him, like a polaric charge. His faith and drive make you believe again. Remember what you fight for. Together you plan for the day when you will escape and continue your fight against the MCP.

Salvation comes in the form of a conscript called Flynn. He is strange. All programs are unsteady out of transit, but he appears to be entirely lost. Like his hard drives have been wiped completely.

But by the Users can he game. His efficiency matches Tron's. Behind the controls of a light cycle, he functions at a level you have never seen. His processors observe multiple functions at once, speed and rationality beyond what they should. You do not know who this Flynn program is, but when he leads an escape, you follow without hesitation.

All of your cycles you have believed in the Users. Your faith, although sometimes weakened, did not fail. When the time came, you fought for them. You do not know that they exist but you accept the probability. What is a system with paradox? Cycles of fighting and faith have led you to this moment.

You and Flynn have been separated from Tron. You do not know of his condition but you hope that he is well. You, however, are not. Your codes were damaged in the attack and you can feel your processors failing. It will not be long until you de-rez.

None of that matters to you now, though. Because you have seen Flynn do things that no other program, not even the MCP, can accomplish. Flynn has powers and functions so much more advanced than a program should. He possesses the skill to create new protocols. And suddenly the conclusion is calculated for you.

Flynn is a User.

All of your cycles, you have fought for Users whose existence you could not prove, and now you have fought beside one. Communicated, shared power sources, and travelled with a real, functioning User.

In that single moment, everything that you have ever tasked for is validated. The Users are a truth. And now you may go and be at peace with that knowledge. You are not afraid anymore.

The Users are watching over you.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my favourite film of all time, and I've always felt like the poignancy of Ram's final moments is vastly over-looked.


End file.
